This blog is dedicated to the music and life of Erskine Morris, an old-time fiddler from Douglastown, Quebec. Through this blog myself and Erskine's son hope to document and promote the local fiddle traditions of the Gaspé Coast.

Erskine Morris (1913 – 1997)

Tuesday, July 12, 2016

The Little Boy's Reel is one of my favourite D tunes of Erskine and is one I've played for the last five years or so. I first encountered it on Erskine's 1990 tape, one of his best and most energetic recordings. Have a listen to the original tune that I posted back in 2011:

A reader of the blog from the Saguenay region of our province recently emailed me to ask if I would break the tune down for him so he could learn it. It's been a long time since I shared any teaching files on this blog so I thought I should fix that. Here's how I play the tune. I'm sure it's not note-for-note how Erskine played it. I play it slowly all the way through before breaking apart the low and high part in the next two files.

Saturday, July 9, 2016

On our sister blog, I just posted a playlist of guitar duets featuring Brian Morris (lead) and Brigid Drody (rhythm) that I recorded at the Pembroke festival in 2013. (It's easier to make playlists on the Wordpress blog platform). This is some top-notch instrumental guitar music and for me, captures the spirit of laid back afternoons with friends at the Pembroke festival. Check it out over there.